Cody Rhodes On Why He Was Worried After Losing To Roman Reigns At WWE WrestleMania 39

It was only a year ago that Cody Rhodes' dreams of "finishing the story" were seemingly shattered when Roman Reigns defeated him at WrestleMania 39, to the disappointment of Rhodes, his family, and his friends. Fortunately for Rhodes, things circled back around at WrestleMania 40, with Rhodes defeating Reigns this time to win the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, allowing him to present the title to his mother following the victory.

Speaking at the post-WrestleMania 40, Night Two, media scrum shortly after his triumphant moment, Rhodes talked about the long journey from his loss last year to his victory, and why there were still plenty of doubts until the moment he handed his mother the championship.

"I was really worried when I didn't win at WrestleMania 39, the journey, the thought [of] how can I get back to WrestleMania 40 and do it all again?" Rhodes said. "And I remember saying to her [my mom], I remember saying 'I just want to be quarterback.' And I remember, she didn't mean it in any negative way, but how she slid in right as I said that, and she said 'Just one time.' And when she said that, I realized that I was out of time. It was now or never. 

"WrestleMania 39, it felt 'This is the moment. This is it. This is the most obvious thing ever.' No. What they asked me, what the challenge was, what the task was...I just heard Mike 'The Miz' who I've known my whole career, tell me that was an incredible amount of pressure. And I'm not going to pack myself on the back here, but I feel that the gauntlet was laid down, and I was able to get through to the other side."